


terminat hora diem

by atimi (bertee)



Series: CWRPF: horas non numero [12]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Ancient Rome, M/M, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-22
Updated: 2009-11-22
Packaged: 2017-11-11 10:12:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertee/pseuds/atimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared and Jensen get used to their new lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	terminat hora diem

_Two and a half years later_

The sun was already touching the tops of the mountains by the time Jared made his way back to the villa.

The sky was painted in reds and oranges, streaks of color against the dark ridge of the hills in the west, and the evening air was still warm enough that Jared felt sweat dampen the hair at the back of his neck, making it stick unpleasantly to his skin.

It had been a long day. He'd spent most of it wandering around the town with Chad who'd come out to Sipontum for the day to share the news that the Senate was apparently stupid enough to grant him a military command. (He had some doubts about Chad's effectiveness in this area but Chad seemed incredibly enthused at the prospect of fighting pirates and Jared wasn't about to keep him from his dreams.) Then there'd been a meeting with some of his farmers about crop problems, a public exchange of speeches about a statue Licinius wanted to build, and then finally a private gathering of the town magistrates to discuss adjustments to the local legislation. There'd been enough talking to last him a week and as night came on, Jared wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep until winter.

Holding back a yawn, he pushed his toga back up onto his shoulder and turned off the main road to take the narrower path home between the fields.

The setting of the summer sun should really have been a giveaway that it was late but Jared didn't realize just how long his day had been until he almost collided with Jeff and Sam coming the opposite way on the road. 

Apparently the trees or fields or crops were especially distracting that evening since he didn't notice anyone else around until Jeff's hand came to rest on his shoulder.

Jared guessed the gesture had been intended to steady him but it had the opposite effect when he jumped in surprise at the sudden presence of people who weren't him, stumbled sideways, and was only stopped from falling by Sam's surprisingly strong hand grabbing the neck of his tunic.

"Whoa, easy there," Jeff said with a chuckle. "The house is still standing; you don't need to hurry back."

Still recovering from being ambushed by the two least sneaky people ever, Jared caught his breath and looked bashfully at Sam, who still had a fistful of tunic clenched in her hand. "Thanks for that."

Sam didn't let go and looked at him suspiciously. "Are you drunk?"

Even if he had been, Jared's instinctive response would still have been to deny it and so he was glad he was telling the truth when he shook his head. "M'not drunk, Sam. Just tired."

She let go and Jared tried not to embarrass himself by stumbling. 

He was relieved when her voice and expression softened as she got a better look at him and commented sympathetically, "You look exhausted, sweetheart. Do you want me to make you some supper?"

"I'm fine," he assured before Jeff had the chance to weigh in. "Really. I just wanna sleep, and I know my way around the kitchen if I get too hungry to stay in bed."

" _When_ you get too hungry to stay in bed," Jeff corrected, sliding his arm around Sam's waist.

Ignoring her husband, Sam asked again, full of motherly concern, "Are you sure? It won't take long; I can go back and make some soup or-"

"I'm fine," he reiterated, glancing at Jeff with a grin. "Anyway, it's not like I want to steal any of your time together. This is why we agreed on you moving out, remember? Less time looking after me, more time doing things with each other that I don't want to think about."

Jeff squeezed Sam's hip, pulling her close and kissing the side of her neck as he teased, "Oh, we remember."

Jared grimaced when Jeff planted a loud, wet kiss on Sam's cheek, and protested with exaggerated disgust over the sound of Sam's laughter, "Thanks, guys. Way to scar me for life."

"Hey, we're consenting adults," Jeff countered. "We're just doing what comes naturally."

"It's not the consenting part I have a problem with," Jared complained, wrinkling his nose when they kissed. "It's like watching my parents make out. Only worse, because I know my parents had sex at least once. As far as I'm concerned you two have been celibate for all the time you've been together."

Sam laughed, tucked in close to Jeff and smiling fondly. "You keep thinking that, junior."

"Yep," Jeff agreed. "You think that and I'll take this beautiful woman home and do lots of inappropriate things to her."

Jared punched him on the arm, waving them away when Sam laughed again. "I get it, I get it." He grinned. "Now go home and quit traumatizing me with this stuff."

Jeff smirked. "Gladly."

"Get some food," Sam reminded him sternly as she and Jeff moved past him.

Jared saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

Sam rolled her eyes but didn't complain further and Jared spoke with a tired smile, "Night, guys."

After watching them head down the path to their farmhouse, Jared turned back to his own villa, now even more eager to get home and get to bed (with possibly a stop for food on the way. There was never a bad time for snacking.)

The sound of barking rose up as he crossed the threshold and as soon as he opened the door, he was tackled by a delighted Sadie, who proceeded to demonstrate her happiness in typical dog fashion by slobbering all over him.

Mindful of his toga which was now covered in pawprints, Jared crouched down to scritch behind her ears and let her push her wet nose against his neck. "Hey, girl," he greeted with a grin. "Did you have fun today?"

Sadie yapped and Jared chuckled. "Yeah, I bet you did. You bothering everybody again, huh?"

She whined and if he hadn't known better, he would've sworn she looked almost guilty. "It's a hard life, isn't it? All those fields to run around in and all those farmers just waiting to give you some attention - you're getting spoiled, aren't ya?"

Sadie's only response was to lap at his neck again and Jared indulged her with more petting, confident that a spoiled but happy dog was a clear improvement on the scared, mistreated pup he'd inherited when he bought the house and the farmland eight months earlier. 

Wiping his hands on his toga, he stood and wandered through to the kitchen, shucking the heavy material off and draping it over a table before going in search of food. As always, the search didn't take long and after cleaning his hands off and stuffing a chunk of tomato-flavored bread in his mouth, he followed Sadie through to the garden with a half-full bowl of raspberries in his hand, listening to the click of her nails on the tiles.

The sun was even lower now, resting between the silhouettes of two peaks and it took Jared's eyes a moment to adjust to the evening dimness when he stepped outside. He smirked at what he found and came to a halt on the grass as Sadie padded over to investigate.

"Hey."

Jensen looked up at the quiet greeting and something warm sparked inside Jared at the smile that spread across Jensen's face when he saw him. "Hey."

A tiny, sandy-colored puppy poked its head up out of Jensen's lap. It barked in Jared's direction but snuggled in closer to the warmth of Jensen's body, too-big paws sliding against Jensen's tunic and its ears flopping to the side as it struggled to stay upright.

Chuckling, Jared crossed the grass and sank to a seat next to Jensen. Sliding an arm around his back, he set the raspberries in his own lap and reached down to pet the puppy with his spare hand. Sadie settled between them and gnawed gleefully on a loose strap from Jared's sandal while Jared leaned in close to press a kiss to Jensen's temple, enjoying the embrace.

"I'm guessing we haven't got rid of it yet, huh?" he teased, opening his hand out to let the puppy explore his palm with its nose.

"It's a he," Jensen corrected, scooping the clumsy bundle of fur up in his arm and letting the dog paw curiously at his tunic. Ducking his head, he admitted sheepishly, "But no, I haven't got rid of him yet. He followed me home from the market again this morning."

"He likes you," Jared sing-songed and chuckled when Jensen elbowed him in the ribs. Popping a raspberry into his mouth, he set the bowl on the grass and pulled Jensen closer, letting the puppy clamber over their thighs into Jared's lap. "We can keep him, y'know."

Jensen's eyes darted up to his and Jared put on the soothing, patient expression he'd perfected over the last two and a half years when Jensen stammered, "I- We don't need to."

"Do you want to?" he asked simply, hoping for an equally simple answer. "It's not like we don't have enough space for two dogs. Plus Sadie loves running around in the fields all day; I'm sure this little guy would love it too, wouldn't you?" 

The last part was directed to the dog who yapped in agreement, rolling onto his back and wriggling happily when Jared scratched his belly.

"So how about it?" he prompted again. "You wanna keep him?"

Jensen shrugged uncertainly, keeping his eyes on the dog rather than on Jared. "It's up to you," he murmured. "It's your house."

"Hmm, close," Jared replied as the puppy rolled himself out of his lap to go investigate Sadie. "Try _our_ house." 

Jensen opened his mouth but Jared pushed on before he could speak, "I mean, you took my name when you were freed, right? You're definitely part of the Padalecki household, dude. A big enough part that you should get to choose whether we take in a dog or not. C'mon, man, look at him." He nodded to where the puppy was trying and failing to climb over Sadie's back while she lay there, entirely nonplussed. "You telling me you don't wanna keep him? I've seen how good you are with Sadie."

The comparisons between Sadie as they'd first met her and Jensen's own history were clear enough in Jared's mind but he refrained from pointing them out as Jensen smiled and stretched his legs out on the grass. "All right, I guess I do want to keep him. But only if that's okay with you," he added quickly, glancing hopefully at Jared.

Jared laughed, quieting himself when the noise made the puppy jump and tumble backwards in surprise. "Like I'm not gonna want to have another dog around the house." He watched as Sadie got to her feet and helped nudge the smaller dog back upright. "I think she's doing the claiming for the both of us."

With the puppy by her side, Sadie yawned widely and wandered back into the house as the pup scampered along behind her. Cuddled up close with Jensen, Jared heard him sigh before turning his head to kiss him on the lips with the whisper, "You're way too good to me."

Jared toyed with the neck of Jensen's tunic before snagging a raspberry from the bowl and holding it up to Jensen's lips. He took it, lips brushing the pads of Jared's fingers as he kissed away the juice, and Jared spoke while he was swallowing, "You saved my life, man. Leaving some food out for an extra dog doesn't come close to evening that score."

"Freeing me did," Jensen countered quietly. "Not to mention letting me move out here with you."

"Wasn't like I was going to leave you behind after I bought this place," he assured, still adapting to Jensen's bouts of insecurity all this time later. "I'm not going to leave you at all."

Jensen didn't answer, shrugging his hand off and reaching for the raspberries, and Jared decided to take it slow. The sun was barely visible now, the sky glowing pink and orange in the distance, and Jared looked out across the fields behind the house as he slipped into more casual conversation. "How was the market today? Everything selling okay?"

"It's fine," Jensen replied easily. "One of the food stalls on the west side wants some new produce so I might land a contract with them next week."

"Really? That's great," Jared enthused with a broad, genuine grin. "You've found your calling in life, dude."

"Guess I'm good for something else other than sex," Jensen murmured, almost too softly to hear, and Jared frowned.

"Sex?" A brief panic flared up. "With me? Jensen, I don't-"

"Not you," he corrected hurriedly. "God, not you. I just-" He exhaled, picking at a raspberry and keeping his eyes down as he explained, "I saw one of Crowe's freedmen in town today." 

"What?" Jared's eyes widened; he remembered the state Jensen had been in after his tenure in Crowe's household and from the scant information he'd coaxed out of him over the years, he knew Crowe's freedmen hadn't made life easy for him. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Jensen nodded, curling his hand over Jared's for added reassurance. "I'm fine. I don't even think he recognized me and I didn't exactly hang around to reminisce." His tone was bitter and Jared knew he was forcing himself to be calm when he took a breath. "I'm sorry, Jared. I- You don't need me bringing this up."

"Hey," Jared protested. "I'll listen to whatever you want to tell me. You know that."

As had happened so many times before, Jensen waved it away and fixed something close to a sincere smile on his face when he looked over at Jared. "It's nothing. Tell me about you instead," he prompted hopefully. "How's Master Murray?"

"Mast-"

He halted his objection when he saw the mischievous glint in Jensen's eyes and knocked his shoulder against him. "Not funny, man. Don't scare me with that stuff again."

Jensen didn't look that contrite but apologized anyway, "Sorry. How's _Chad_?"

"He gets to fight pirates."

Jensen looked as stunned as Jared had. "Huh?"

"Pirates," Jared repeated with a grin. "Actual pirates. The Senate are giving him the command of almost the entire Roman fleet to tackle the pirates intercepting the grain supply."

Shoulders shaking with laughter, Jensen lay back on the grass and kicked his sandals off, bare toes wiggling in the cooling air. "That's amazing. Did he sleep with the consuls or something? How'd he get that job?"

Tugging his own sandals off, Jared settled next to him, dropping a raspberry between Jensen's parted lips befor answering with an amused shrug, "I have no idea, man. He seems happy and as long as I'm not the one who has to go bail him out if he gets his ass handed to him, it's all good."

Propping himself up on an elbow, Jensen asked curiously, "You don't miss that? The whole army thing?"

"Honestly? No." He skimmed his hand down Jensen's side, stroking over the line of his ribs and slotting in against the curve of his hip. "Can't think of anywhere else I'd want to be."

"Including fighting pirates?"

"Including fighting pirates," Jared promised. "Anyway, if I wanted pirates, I could always try to talk you into it next time we go to the baths." He kissed him at the side of his mouth but pulled back teasingly when Jensen turned his head to catch his lips. "How about it? I can be a merchant vessel and you can be the crafty pirate who attacks me for my goods."

Jensen laughed, rolling onto his back but facing Jared with a raised eyebrow. "Your goods?"

"Damn straight. I have good goods." 

He patted his own ass in demonstration and smiled wider when Jensen laughed again.

"Hey, don't be mocking my goods," he protested, leaning over Jensen to kiss him again. "You love this shit."

"I love _you_ ," Jensen stressed, expression bright and open as he looked up at Jared. "I don't care so much about the rest of it."

"Love you too," Jared murmured against his jaw before mouthing a line of hot, wet kisses down the line of his throat as Jensen squirmed against the grass.

"Fuck, that tickles-" he gasped, pushing half-heartedly at Jared's body but stretching up to kiss his lips when he pulled away. "Hey, I didn't say stop."

"Demanding," Jared teased but soothed away any mockery with another kiss. Catching his breath, he pushed up to ask, "You got a preference, Jen?" He tickled along his sides and smirked when Jensen let out a burst of laughter. "You prefer me using my hands?" He tugged at the neck of Jensen's tunic and licked into the hollow of his collarbone. "Or you like my mouth better?"

Jensen shrugged as best he could, his smile visible even in Jared's shadow. "As long as you don't stop, I'm happy."

Jared grinned. "Works for me."

Jensen pulled him down into a kiss again, teeth nipping lightly at his lower lip, and Jared's body covered his like a blanket as the sun slipped down fully behind the mountains. 

They fitted together as well as they always had, Jensen's lips parting for Jared's tongue, Jared's hand sliding behind Jensen's head, and their legs tangling as they rolled back over onto their sides. 

Above them, the moon seemed to grow brighter in the new darkness and stars scattered across the blue-black sky from the outline of the mountains in the west to disappear behind the roof of their house. 

Pressed up close, Jensen exhaled softly and rested his head on Jared's upper arm, and silence washed over them as the peace of night sank into the land. There were no street-gangs, no shouts from the taverns, and no other people around except for the two of them curled up on the grass together. 

Deciding that he'd do all he could to ensure every day ended like this, Jared tilted his head for a slow kiss and surrendered himself to the feel of Jensen in his arms, both of them safe and happy and together.


End file.
